Pooling everyone's strength

"Did you talk to your Godson and come to me to confirm your stance?" Lumian maintained his smile.

"What you believe in is none of my business, as long as you don't believe in Evil God, and besides, followers of the ' God of Knowledge and Wisdom ' are not wanted criminals in Trier."

He's saying, "I'm still a wanted criminal, believe whatever you want."

Baron Brignais, always a shrewd man, didn't pursue the topic further and instead said, "I'm so grateful to you for helping me find Ludwig; I don't know how to thank you enough."

He didn't offer a specific gift of thanks, wanting to gauge Lumian's attitude and thoughts.

Lumian considered it for a moment, then picked up the idea he had just abandoned:

Having Baron Brignais help with the research and writing of the "briefing" doesn't mean he has to be placed in the same room as Franca, Jenna, and Anthony Reid. He could simply be given some of the materials, along with instructions on what to pay attention to, and then read and take notes at home.

Similarly, before Anthony Reid agrees to participate in the operation to capture Parish Priest Guillaume Béné, he cannot be allowed to have direct contact with Jenna and Franca; a separate "office" will be arranged for him later.

Lumian looked at Baron Brignais and asked deliberately, "Are you good at reading and note-taking?"

Aurora's Witchcraft Notes mention that the Pathway mastered by the Church "God of Knowledge and Wisdom" is called "The Reader," which is also the name of Sequence 9 Potion, while Sequence 8 is "The Rational Apprentice" and Sequence 7 is "The Detective."

Considering that Baron Brignais rarely displays special abilities, relying more on his excellent intellect, decent fighting skills, and outstanding marksmanship to become the leader of the Savoie Gang, and given his current beliefs, Lumian initially suspects that he is Beyonder of the "Reader" Pathway.

Judging solely from the name of the Potion, one can conclude that this person is very good at reading.

Baron Brignais took a puff of his Pipe and said, "Compared to those illiterate people, my reading and learning abilities are quite good."

He didn't quite understand Charles's purpose in asking this question, and could only suspect that he was testing which Pathway of Beyonder he was.

And this was no secret; Gardner Martin already knew.

Lumian smiled sincerely:

"I recently acquired a batch of materials about Spirit World Creature, but as you know, and you should know, reading such information for a long time can put a heavy burden on the mind. I'm just Beyonder on the ' Hunter ' Pathway, so I won't need these materials for a long time. However, I want to be able to quickly find the relevant information when I need it, so as not to waste precious time. Therefore, I would like to give you some of the materials and ask you to help me read them and extract the keywords."

"This is similar to creating an index in Library." Baron Brignais understood immediately.

He smiled and said, "Actually, I benefited from this; the knowledge itself is of great value."

The Library index... truly befitting a follower of the "God of Knowledge and Wisdom," so professional... Lumian was very pleased, thinking that Baron Brignais was probably worth an Anthony Reid and a "Knowledge Rabbit."

At the same time, he felt it necessary to be wary of Baron Brignais. For example, he could take ten pages from the materials given to this believer of the "God of Knowledge and Wisdom," look at them in advance, make Recording of them, and then compare them with the index table submitted by Baron Brignais to see if he had deliberately omitted or tampered with them.

Of course, this was Lumian's clumsy method; he could have asked Franca to determine it through Divination, but that too could be subject to interference.

Lumian, hands in his pockets, looked at Baron Brignais with the same disdainful gaze one would give a laborer, and said with a smile, "I don't care who benefits, as long as my purpose is achieved."

Baron Brignais nodded slightly, said nothing more, and simply told Lumian where he would be in the morning so that he could Past the documents.

Golden Rooster Inn, Room 305.

Facing Anthony Reid, Lumian relaxed and repeated what he had just said to Baron Brignais, concluding, "That knowledge is the reward. In addition, I will teach you a Ritual Magic that can summon a special Spirit World Creature to help you browse information and extract key points. How about it, do you want to accept this Commission?"

Anthony Reid's Deep Brown Eyes reflected Lumian's image as he carefully said, "You're in a hurry. This matter has extra significance for you; it's very important."

Lumian had no intention of hiding this, and went along with it, saying, "Later, Book and I will be dealing with a powerful enemy and want to acquire a suitable Contract Creature. We might need your participation, mainly as an assistant. You can start thinking about whether you want to accept now, and what kind of reward you want. Hehe, no need to rush to reply, we'll talk about it in a couple of days."

"You're laying the groundwork with language, giving me enough mental preparation and allowing me to form corresponding expectations." Anthony Reid saw through Lumian's thoughts.

Lumian was momentarily embarrassed, but he was always thick-skinned, and outwardly remained unaffected, smiling as he said, "Didn't you realize that your frankness could be life-threatening?"

Anthony Reid nodded slightly, confirming a few things, and then agreed to help review the materials and write a "briefing".

It's in the room next to Lumian's bedroom on the second floor of the Breeze Ballroom.

Lumian looked at Anthony Reid and "The Knowledge Rabbit" sitting side by side, flipping through documents and filling out forms, and nodded almost imperceptibly with satisfaction.

After reiterating that one should not read in detail any information about Spirit World Creature marked with Vocabulary like "powerful" and "dangerous," he left and went to the office at the end of the corridor.

Franca sat comfortably in Lumian's armchair, her feet, clad in red boots, propped up on the edge of the desk.

She asked, both puzzled and curious, "What exactly do you want our help with? You're being so secretive."

Jenna sat in the chair opposite her, and also turned her body to look towards the door.

Lumian casually closed the door and gave a brief account of what had happened, explaining that he needed to obtain a Contract Creature before dealing with the Parish Priest.

"It's such a simple matter, can't we just do Divination?" Franca muttered as she agreed to Lumian's request, while Jenna was filled with curiosity about the Spirit World Creature.

Not long after, Franca raised her head, looked at the three "Knowledge Rabbit" who were each occupying a spot, quickly flipping through Paper and writing, and Jenna and Lumian, and said with a smile, "Why does this feel like a small workshop, and we're just copying laborers?"

Congratulations, your gut feeling was right... Lumian casually replied, "Am I not looking at information and filling out forms too?"

Franca thought about it and agreed, then continued with her "work".

They worked until after 10 p. m., taking several breaks along the way, including meals, naps, short rests, recovering from any discomfort, and resuming their "Knowledge Rabbit" training.

Lumian would also occasionally use his short breaks to observe the condition of Franca, Jenna, Anthony Reid, and the four "Knowledge Rabbit," lest they become too engrossed and fail to notice their own abnormalities.

Jenna was the first to reach her limit. She had just been promoted to "Instigator" and had not yet truly adapted to the Potion. She was not in good condition as she tried to control the overflowing power.

The second is Anthony Reid, who has a more severe psychological trauma and a lower tolerance for certain abnormalities.

Lumian, Franca, and the "Knowledge Rabbit," which had been replaced in its seventh batch, persevered to the end.

Baron Brignais finished his work around 6 p. m., delivering the documents and forms to the Café.

After deactivating the summons and seeing off the visibly exhausted "helpers," Lumian returned to the Safe House on White Coat Street and stacked all the forms together.

He casually flipped through the forms, confirmed the general situation, and then tossed them onto the table with a sense of accomplishment.

He didn't plan to start the selection process now, to prepare to become a "Contracted One." He wanted to understand the Contract requirements before reading the index, so that he wouldn't end up finding Spirit World Creature that was suitable for him in every way, only to discover that it didn't meet the Contract conditions.

After resting for a while, Lumian summoned a "Knowledge Rabbit" and had it make two extra copies of all the forms.

After storing the three indexes separately, Lumian was so exhausted that she didn't even want to wash up. She collapsed onto the bed and fell into a Past sleep.

At Six in the Morning, Lumian, full of energy, did not rush to the Underground to set up the Altar and pray for Gift. Instead, as usual, he jogged, practiced boxing, and relaxed his mind.

It was almost eight o'clock when he finally took the necessary materials and headed towards the door of Room 207, Golden Rooster Inn.

After hesitating for a moment, Lumian finally picked up the Carbide Lamp, even though he no longer needed to prepare any special lighting tools, as it was the best kind available.

He wanted the first reaction of any potential enemy to be that he lacked Darkvision and was not good at creating light.

In the Underground Trier, inside the Quarry Cavern where Fate- related Ritual had been held before.

Lumian quickly cleaned up the damp, dark environment and placed Candle infused with his blood on the stone that served as Altar.

Just as he finished sanctifying the Ritual Silver Dagger and was preparing to create the "Spirit Wall," he suddenly heard soft footsteps.

The footsteps echoed in the empty Tunnel deep Underground, seemingly not far from the current Mine.

Someone was passing by? Lumian's heart tightened, and he planned to quickly clean up the scene and hide.

He had just approached the "Altar" in front of him, Future extinguish the Carbide Lamp, soft footsteps suddenly approached and appeared at the entrance to the Cavern.

Seeing that he couldn't avoid it, Lumian turned around instantly, put one hand in his pocket, and looked in the direction from which the sound was coming.

There stood a thin, dark-skinned man, carrying a Carbide Lamp. He had slightly curly black hair, dark eyes, and wore Black Robe reminiscent of Circus Seer.

Monet... Lumian recognized who this person was.

He was Archipelago conman who had fooled Charlie and was then fooled by the conmen in the "Different from the Rest" Dance Hall.

Monet also saw Lumian.

The corners of his mouth gradually turned up, and he greeted them with a cheerful expression:

What a coincidence!

As he spoke, the conman took out a Monocle that looked like it was made of Crystal and put it in his right Eye Sockets.